His last movie is Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, directed by Jake Kasdan. A film that is kid-friendly, adult-safe and genuinely enjoyable popcorn entertainment that just "good" enough to not cause any remorse. Based on the movie from the 90’s, Jumanji helps Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to power his way to the top as the most bankable actor of his generation.
The action star is the world's highest-paid actor and most powerful in Hollywood. He's also in the HBO series Ballers and the ex-warrior confessed that his first approach to Spanish was years ago, when he was married to a Latina, although he did not learn well the language of Cervantes.
Q: You have said that you are not bilingual but can understand some Spanish
A: Yes. I was married once to a Cuban woman who taught me how to speak a few sentences. Sometimes we did talk in Spanish but I do understand is very basic
Q: You were not long ago visiting Spain
A: Yes, I went to Madrid and I loved it. It is a wonderful city, I’m part Latin and every time I go to a Spanish speaking country I feel like I’m home. The food in Spain was excellent.
Q: Wat is it for you a true hero?
A: Everything that we believe when it comes to challenging ourselves. For me it is important to try to be a better person every day, to try to make the right decision by learning from the wrong decisions we have made previously. I am a fervent believer in the idea of the hero
Q: Do your considerer yourself a hero, to play heroes
A: I'm interested in big, heroic characters with a heart that knows how to have fun. I enjoy making films of that type because I believe that the public can identify with these stories. In a character like Jumanji, for example, many people can see their vulnerability. As an actor, I try to give myself emotionally and put my trust in the director's hands. I also enjoy when I play someone who does not necessarily represent the idea we have of the hero, but who, in facing adversity, is capable of becoming a hero.
Q: How do you enjoy your free time?
A: I am very calm. I do not usually go out much, I find it hard to find myself in public. I prefer to stay at home having dinner or watching a movie
Q: Have you ever tried to impress a lady by showing your pecs?
A: It requires a lot of muscle control (laughs). If I have done it, though not to impress her but to amuse her
Q: Fantasia, action, terror, family. You play all genres What is Dwayne Johnson really looking for in a movie?
A: The first thing I look for is that the story has a heart. I do not care if it's a family or action film. I like fractured stories where my character tries to find the path he has lost. I guess it has to do with my own life. I grew up as an only child and we were all very close, when I was fourteen years old we lost the house and we had to take refuge in a shelter for the terminally ill. My mother spent her time crying and I could not do anything. I remember constantly thinking "this will never happen again". At that time, my fascination with the cult of the body began as a result of my admiration for Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was then that I began to think about the possibility of being one of them.
Q: Do you feel the pressure to play a film where your physique goes into the background?
A: I like acting, to learn constantly and I do not care to participate in a great commercial movie or a small drama as long as I like the story.
Q: What about Jumanji as you produce and star in the movie
A: it was just really the opportunity to tell a great story. Hopefully, we tell a great story. It was the opportunity to take something that was beloved, that I loved, me and my family loved. So, it was that. to tell a beloved story to a whole new audience. It’s a great point you bring up, if there was an element about the script that I really liked that took the spirit of the original movie and the spirit of the original story and added this other great layer to it. In this case, as you said, the great layer is that I am decked out, as I’m decked out right now, as this avatar, but in reality, in the real world, I’m a 16-year-old kid, which was a great juxtaposition, I think, just as an actor and then look as a producer and the opportunity to tell that kind of story
Q: Can you talk about the stunts that you have to do?
A: I don’t know if there are stunts in this movie that I’ve never done before, but I think it’s in how we’re executing them, and the variables that we’re placing around the stunts that would make them different. So, for example, in our world of Junkman, the animals are bigger, they’re meaner, they’re faster, so let’s start with the animals, right? And then we also start with the fact that we’re pulling off all these stunts, again proficient and able, but as a 16-year-old kid too as well. So, there’s a really cool wish fulfillment factor that happens too. When I was 16 I would’ve loved to become, you know, whoever my favorite characters were, especially in video games. So, there’s this really cool dynamic that I hope we pull off, and we execute properly, just as I’m in these fight scenes—As I’m in these fight scenes because I’m a video game, like turbo-geek with video games, right? So, as I’m in these fight scenes, there’s a little cool element where I’m actually calling out the moves before I’m doing it. Like you know how a lot of times as we’re playing it’s oh (makes fight noises), if we do it right, it should be very funny.
Q: Where do you find your inspiration?
A: in the spirit of the game itself, of the board game of Jumanji, that was in the 90s, you’ll see in the creative device that we’ve used within the movie it morphs into, it goes on the board game into the video game, but it still has the spirit of the 90s. So, it’s characters like that, that our very stereotypical characters from the 90s.
Q: You talk about paying homage to the original, but like, not getting bogged down in it. Like, showing respect to it, but making it your own?
A: What is the way that we can pay homage to the original movie, not only to the original movie, but to Robin Williams in a way that felt good and that made people feel good. I think we came up with some really nice ways to pay homage and yeah, I think the family is going to be very, very happy with it. Yeah.
Q: What was it like to work with Kevin Hart again?
A: I love Kevin. We’ve become really, really close. He’s like a brother to me. Kevin is an ambitious guy. He likes to accomplish things. He’s a very busy guy. He believes in hardcore work ethic, which is great, but also, Kevin is one of the biggest stars in the world, certainly the biggest comedy star in the world.
And also, brings an element of self-deprecating humor to this movie and to movies that he’s in, which often times, over the years, I think when it … We’ve seen it in the past, where comedians rise to become a big star in Hollywood, sometimes it’s important to always be cool, and to look cool, and in Kevin’s case, I think he’s really done a great job, I think of checking that at the door. And just thinking about what’s going to make the movie funny. So, look, Kevin’s great. And also, again, the idea that we’re all 16-year-old teenagers is just a great element for us to tap into. Even Kevin. You know, Kevin starts out in the movie, he’s a massive teenager. He’s captain of the football team, he’s 6’5″, he’s a handsome guy, you know, All-American. He’s the man. And then, he turns into Kevin. Yeah.
Maria Estévez
Correspondent Writer
